Current fire simulation for firefighter training is accomplished at facilities that use propane burners and extinguishing agent collectors to simulate the behavior of various types of fires. This approach presents numerous disadvantages, such as safety risks attributable to unintended reflash and explosion; environmental damage attributable to combustion byproducts; health risks to crews due to inhalable combustion byproducts; high operation costs attributable to fuel requirements; high maintenance costs to ensure system integrity and safety; and unrealistic fire simulations for some types of fires (all simulations appear as propane fires as opposed to oil, electrical or paper; and simulated smoke is white instead of black).
A need exists for a new generation of fire fighting/damage control simulation system which does not use live fires. These systems must be capable of providing a high fidelity representation of the smoke and flames, as well as a realistic representation of the environment (to include fellow crew members). Augmented reality (AR) technology allows overlay of computer-generated graphics on a person's view of the real world. With AR, computer generated fire, smoke, and extinguishing agents can safely replace live fire training while still allowing trainees to view and interact with each other and the real-world environment. This allows safe, cost-effective effective training with greater realism than pure virtual reality (VR) simulations.
The majority of current generation of fire fighting training systems use live, propane-based fires which are unsafe, particularly for use in contained areas such as onboard ships, and in real structures. In a training environment, the use of live propane-based fires presents safety, health and environmental risks.
The primary objective of this invention is the development of an augmented reality-based training (ARBT) system for fire fighting, with application to rescue and hazardous material mitigation. In fact, in any fire situation there are multiple goals, including:                Search, rescue, and extrication        Ingress into, and egress from, a structure        Fire suppression        Structure stabilization        Team coordination—command & control        Fire cause determination        
In each of the goals, firefighters engage in a number of cognitive and physical tasks critical to the survival of both fire victims and firefighters, as well as to the timely suppression of a fire. Tasks that fall under this category are
(1) Navigation
(2) Situation awareness
(3) Decision making/problem solving
(4) Stress management
These tasks are undertaken, usually in concert with one another, to achieve the above goals. Training in these four tasks provides the foundation for a firefighter to combat any fire situation. An opportunity exists to develop an ARBT system which educates firefighters in these tasks in a safe and potentially less expensive environment, in almost any location.
It is important at this juncture to distinguish between the concept of reaction versus interaction with fire and smoke. By reaction we connote responses made by a firefighter to conditions caused by fire and smoke; in this situation he/she does not alter the evolution of the fire and smoke. By interaction we mean that the firefighter directly affects the evolution of the fire and smoke by such actions as fire suppression and ventilation. As stated above, Tasks (1) to (4) are applicable to any fire situation—reactive or interactive. Therefore, any significant improvement in developing training skills for Tasks (1) to (4) will result in a significantly skilled firefighter for both reactive and interactive scenarios.